7: "Your a bit tall for an eleven year old.."
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Zechs hid behind an uncompleted mobile suit shading himself into the shadows as well as he could as he placed sever explosives inside its leg attaching it to the wires within with a wry smirk.
He carefully pulled his bangs from his eyes as he placed the last wire of the mobile suit into one of the explosives, Zechs shut the hatch silently backing future into the shadows with a sigh as he began to pull out the detonator when a hand clamped itself over his mouth dragging him into a corner.
The 20-year-old almost pressed the button on the detonator when the assailant snatched it from his hand with a soft laugh.
"You wouldn't want to blow us up soon now would you?" The woman purred in his ear before shifting her sapphire eyes toward the hatch upon the mobile suit's calf. "What was it that you put into the mobile suit?" Zechs scoffed at the woman's arrogance; did she really think he was going to just tell her what he had placed inside there, she had another thing coming to her.
Zechs shifted his head in the other direction on his left deciding to be uncooperative with the woman, the sapphire eyed-woman growled ramming her knee into his back causing him to bit into the palm of her hand. The woman screamed in anguish and a bit too loudly to Milliardo's dismay.
He rammed his eblow into the woman's stomach she released him stumbling backward in pain trying to ease it just as Zechs' foot came flying at her face, her scream was stopped short when his foot impacted into her face knocking her out and down onto the ground. "Excuse me," Zechs said in mock-politeness. He bent over and picked up the detonator she dropped as the mummurs of rebels filled his ears and danger ensnared his senses.
Zechs bolted from his spot coming out of the shadows in running as fast as he could to the control room he was supposed to be in just as he was assaulted with bullets from a several guns, a bullet lodged itself into his arm sending a blinding pain up his arm with a grunt the long-haired young man managed to duck behind a column to try and tend to his arm.
Zechs placed the detonator into his pants tearing a piece of his jacket off quickly tying the fabric around his arm before running off down the corridor pulling the detonator out of his pants with a grunt careful not overwork his arm, he made sure he was out of the way before pressing the button.
The rebels in the surrounding area of the uncompleted mobile suit were blown back or caught in the explosion and the alarms sounded off echoing through the entire factory. Zechs ducked behind a corner continuing down the corridor toward the control room he saught after. The Eeastern European preventer punched in the correct code for the door and watched as it opened.
He jumped into the room listening to the door shut behind him just as more rebels came rushing down toward the chaos. Zechs scanned the room relieved that there wasn't anyone inside when a monitor above the control panel came to life he glanced up with a smirk staring at his partner curiously.
"Zechs, what did you just do?" Noin asked sounding enraged. Zechs shrugged coming up to the control panel with his usual expression. "I blew up one side of the MS-manufacturing room along with one mobile suit. There are possible casualties," Zechs explained his raspy deep voice was line with amusement. Noin growled in frustration running a hand through her hair while her other hand fixed the head-set.
"Milliardo! This isn't funny, your going to get suspended when Une hears about this!" Noin hissed as quietly as she could. Zechs frowned at the mention of his former name, she only used his name when she was either in one of her odd-cheery moods or when she was infuriated. Zechs bowed his head with a nod noticing she hadn't seen his injured arm yet. He shrugged.
"Maybe I'll go visit Relena while I'm on suspension, I need the vacation," He replied childishly. Noin sighed knowing that arguing about this with him was futile and it they're aruging wasn't going anywhere.
She nodded figuring he had known what the consequences were if he killed even one rebel. "Very well, I'll contact you when I'm done blocking all communications to from this base incase they try something funny, you'd best do the same. Understood?" She asked cocking an eyebrow.
Zechs nodded. "Understood," He repeated. Noin gave another nod before vanishing from the screen. The former White-fang leader pulled out a headset of his own placing it over his head preparing to get down to business.
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Trowa landed the shuttle into the preventers spaceport at a steady speed keeping his attention on the succession of his parking only blocking all other things out of his mind despite that he had a hard time blocking out Duo's semi-snore fest behind him, the braided teenager had fallen asleep a half-an-hour into the flight after listening to Catherine's stories of her or his mishaps in the circus while performing in front of a usually large audience. He rolled his eyes at her exaggerating points in the stories. Trowa smiled at the familiar symbol upon the ground They had made it to the preventers HQ.
He watched as a navigator motioned him to follow him with the two shinning cone-ish looking objects in his hands he moved the shuttle forward into the right parking position before shutting the systems down completely rousing Heero out of his pondering state.
The Japanese teenager looked to him with an inquiring look noticing that they were inside a hangar. That explained everything to him, Heero unbuckled himself proceeding to climb out of the chair heading toward the back. The Prussian blue eyed teenager slapped Duo on the shoulder waking him up, Duo sat upright rubbing his eyes of their sleep scanning the area through his fist or so it seemed to Quatre who was up and ready to leave the shuttle feeling cramped.
Jin grumbled something as Heero lifted him out of the chair throwing him over his shoulder or not particular reason; he just loved doing it Duo followed him toward the shuttle as the silent-warrior opened the shuttle door. Trowa shook Catherine, the girl moaned in her sleep shifting in a new sleeping position but didn't wake from her dream, Trowa sighed unbuckling the girl lifting her up with ease.
He began to move forward but stopped when Catherine started to wiggle in his arms with a grunt of protest. "Put me down Trowa, please?" She said calmly so she wouldn't alarm him. Trowa nodded slowly placing her down on the ground Catherine gaze him a playful look giving him quick tap under his chin using her index finger heading toward the door, a faint blush began to form on Trowa's cheeks as he followed Catherine toward the shuttle's door.
Ever since he had first met her, the knife-throwing performer of the circus was always flirtatious with him though he ignored half of everything they did except when they performed. Trowa also noticed that she was very protective of him when he suffered from amnesia, she would never let him out of her sights up to the point where he found it very annoying despite his current state.
He and she treated eachother like brother and sister, but since then..... his feelings toward her began to differ a great deal, but always thought of it as his hormones bothering him anytime he stared at woman which was to be expected; he was after all a teenager still.
Pushing the thoughts aside Trowa followed after Catherine knowing there would be other times to worry about his feelings toward Catherine later, there were more important things at hand.
Lady Une, Wufei and Sally stood at the entrance of the Headquarters with their uniforms on (naturally) watching the group of poeple slide down the ladder while chattering amongst themselves. Une's eyebrows narrowed in suspicion at the usually tall little boy beside Heero who wore a scowl on his face aruged with the Japansese teenager (who wasn't even listening to him at the prresent moment). The boy only stood one and half heads short of Heero's hight.
His hair was wild appearing to be cut crookedly on all sides his bangs were identical to Maxwell's his chestnut brown bangs were the worst things Une had ever seen; they shadowed his eyes and the bridge of his nose behind the mess of unruly hair was a shoulder length braid wrapped tightly at the end with studded emerald bracelet.
His skin was pale he suffered from malnutrition. His clothes were horrible, blue flame designed hooded jacket, the dark gray sleeveless shirt, the matching pants to his hoody the flames resided on only the left pant leg traveling downward around the cuff, his thick soled airwalkers, and leather fingerless govels had seen better days.
They were completed ragged and faded out. Une could only find one word to describe the look in the boy's onyx blue eyes; bitter and he thought low of himself. Brinning her attention away from Jin she glanced to the quickly approaching group consisting of civilians and gundam pilots.
Wufei's face crunched up at the thought being stuck with Duo; he talked too much for his taste but he managed to tollerate the chatter-box American for the sake of his nerves and sanity. He watched the braided pilot give him a smile with a short wave in his direction, Wufei simply nodded to the Shinigami maintaining his plain expresion.
Une stepped forward straightening her jacket out before extending a hand to Heero who accepted her friendly gesture gripping her hand firmly before Une took the pleasure of doing the all of the shaking of the hands. "Good to see your all well, Gundam pilots," Une began with a glance to toward Jin who stood behind Heero returning her gaze with a colder than cold glare.
Une's eyes widen slightly this young man was truly bitter. She shifted her eyes toward Catherine who was beginning to suspect something was a amidst in the air. "Hello Catherine Bloom," Une paused looking directly at Jin with a arched eyebrow. "...And you are?" She said.
Jin stepped from behind Heero extending his hand to the woman. "My name is Jin and I'm eleven years old," He said fidgeting with the strings on the flaps of his hooded jacket his glare still remained. "I'll say nothing more." Une cocked an eyebow as she tried to examine the boy further without alerting him that she was doing so.
"Hmm..... Your a bit tall for an eleven year old...," Une mumbled partly to herself. Jin scoffed pointing a scolding finger at her. "I drank lots'o Ent Draught as toddler lady," Jin joked humorlessly wagging his finger at her. Une almost laughed at his remark. "Ent Draught?" She repeated cracking a wise-aleck smile. Jin scowled deeper with a nod. This woman was pop culturally deprived.
"Yeah, haven't you ever read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the rings trilogy?" He asked playing with he weird contraption on his arm that covered the back of his hand; Une recognized it as an arm guard.
There was a strange design upon it; it appeared to be a lightening bolts surrounding a small emerald that was embedded into it. Une shook her head to get the boy off her case and stepped back gesturing the group toward the entrance of the preventer's buliding. Heero nodded nudging Jin in the shoulder ordering him to follow his lead, the young man followed grumbling something about Legolas the elf. Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Catherine folllowed after them Wufei wasn't too far behind them.
Sally walked up to her chief and commander Une who a suspicious look in her eyes. "Methinks this child needs a therapists more so than Heero Yuy does," Sally grumbled to Une. The German woman shook her head in disagreement before speaking to the Chinese woman beside her. "Where are Vice Foregone minister Darlain and Hilde Schbeiker?" Une asked turning her head toward the braided woman.
Sally shook her head looking behind them, there undercover preventer fronting as a taxi driver was awfully later than he was usually was and she began to worry.
"I have no idea. Wheeler is usually back before the midnight hour which is fast approaching," She pointed out glancing at her watch biefly. Une's eyebrows narrowed as a chill ran up her spine. Something's not right..... She thought looking skyward. Sally gave her skeptic look getting the exact dreadful feeling.
~*~
Hilde fidgeted with the collar of her shirt trying to ignore the examining gaze the taxi driver was giving her. She turned her aquamarine eyes toward the world passing her by through the window in a mass of shapes and blurry blotches.
Hilde began to wonder if Duo was doing in Heero's deathly silent company while she was away. She sighed audibly feeling downright depressed thinking so much about the braided pilot.
Relena turned her gaze toward the German teenager with a questioning look, she wanted to know so badly what was eating at her friend so badly but something inside her already told her she knew the answer to that question.
Duo Maxwell....... Hn..... Heero......, Relena's mind drifted to the charismatic Gundam pilot and the only full blown smile she had given him after he had pushed her away from the late Wing Zero.
His smile surprised her beyond her comprehension warming her heart at the same time as well before she snapped back to reality and called his name as she neared the railing of the platform.
That was the only time he had shown that joyful smile that proved Dr. J's notation about Heero being a kind hearted young man he had poorly described to her after he rescued her from the colony rebels who did nothing to save her father.
Relena was abruptly snapped out of her thoughts at the sudden stop from the taxi and the firing of gunshots, she and Hilde were jerked forward colliding against back of the drivers seat with a cry of surprise that emitted from the small framed German teenager.
The front of the taxi had smashed itself into a wall and the driver for was probably dead for all they knew, Hilde and Relena stayed down low in fear of their lives. More shots were fired shattering the cab's windows. A piece of glass lodged itself halfway into the upper part of Relena's arm, the Vice foreign minister cried out in pain just as she heard passengers door open and she was then yanked out of the car.
Relena crashed to the ground on her injured arm causing the glass to venture deeper into her arm she bit her lip holding back to the cry of pain that threatened to come out, she groggily looked up at her attacker catching only a glimpse of the person's face before his foot kicked her in the face rendering her unconscious.
Hilde gasped in pain as she was dragged across the ground toward wherever the lot of the crazies were taking her she watched one of the men dressed in nothing but black making it hard to identify him lift the unconcious Relena Peacecraft from the ground into his arms. The German teenager turned her head toward a black van (ironically) where she was dragging to with a look of complete fear in her eyes.
Acting quickly on impluse Hilde yanked the men that had her by the arms downward bringing herself up at the same time before flipping them over on their backs. Hilde began to rush toward Relena figuring taking down a bunch of kindnappers was going to be no problem at all since she was after all a Oz soldier for a short time.
But a prick in the neck proved her wrong, the German girl stopped dead in her tracks bringing her hand up to her neck pulling out whatever had lodged itself into it she pulled it out with in one fluid motion staring down at the object in between her index finger and her thumb bringing it up to her nose and took a whiff of it.
A sedative.....! And no sooner than Hilde thought those words she began to feel dizzy and lightheaded, she began to stumble across the ground beneath her before she was greeted with the butt of a gun. Her body fell to the ground with a thud.
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"So this is the preventers HQ...... dosen't look like much," Jin mumbled triedly as he followed behind the gundam pilots with his arms behind his head with his fingers intertwined with eachother. His onyx blue eyes shifted to Wufei who walked beside Duo who was unusally quiet, from what Jin had heard while he was semi-conscious on the couch of the braided salvage yard owner, Duo had a lot to talk about and themsome.
Jin scolded himself mentally for thinking in such a way about the person who had saved his life though he kept telling himself he could have taken Tomeki he wasn't so tired from lack of sleep. Oh your just angry because you got saved Jin, get over it, His mind chided him.
Jin scoffed rolling his eyes before his face collided into Heero's back nose-first, the young man grimanced muttering something under his breath as he rubbed his nose to ease throbbing pain. Heero turned in question looking down at Jin with an arched eyebrow possibly unaware that the 11-year-old had bumped into him.
"What's the promblem?" Heero asked curiously. Jin waved a hand at him shaking his head before removing his hand from his nose. "Nothin'," He replied curtly walking passed him. Heero gave Jin's retreating back a skeptic look before looking up at Lady Une who had stopped in front of a door.
"This is the dressing room where your uniforms are situated," Une explained briefly before turning her back to them. "Catherine Bloom please follow me if you'd be so kind." Catherine looked up at Trowa who have her a reassuring nod he gently moved her forward giving her a start. Catherine gave him a small smile before following after Une who decided not to wait up for her.
Duo watched them go before crossing his arms over his chest with a frustrated look upon his face. "He we go again," He grumbled grabbing the door knob pushing the door open stepping inside. Trowa followed him inside the room with knowing how Duo felt; it had only been a year since the Mariemaia incident (or rather the attempt of reviving Operation Meteor) and they were just getting settled down into leading lives in world that wasn't war torn when a new threat comes out of the blue and unsets the peacful balance that Relena Peacecfaft worked so hard to achieve (with their helping hand of course).
The Latin American teenager watched Duo who resided on the right side of the room pick up his preventer uniform made escpically for him and walk off into another part of the room for privacy. He went over to the left and grabbed the uniform hanging underneath a small closet with his name labeled above.
He grinned at the touch of the his pants before heading off for some privacy of his own. Quatre, Heero, and Wufei grabbed their uniform going in different ways to change into some decent clothing. Jin was the only one who stood in the middle of the walk way, his onyx blue eyes shifted to the left and noticed one last uniform hanging up.
With a shrug the 11-year-old made his way over to it his curiosity got the best of him Jin reached out grabbing the uniform on the hanger glancing up at the name labeled above; Eriol Wheeler. "Hn..!" Jin grunted in surprise placing the uniform back on the small pole with slight disgust.
"Who knows where this dude's been. Probably has lice....[Shudders]." Jin unzipped his jacket before placing his hands into his pants pocket with a sigh. He began to wonder how he had ever surived the destruction of the colony or if his parents knew the colony was going to be destroyed and left him there to d---- "Oi Jin!" Duo Maxwell's cheerful voice broke Jin's train of thought causing him to jump in surprise and scream.
Duo's face fell in confusion as he watched Jin place a hand to his chest catching his breath. The braided teen chuckled running a hand through his hair, he was easier to scare than Quatre was! "Heh. Sorry about that," Duo chuckled placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.
Jin face regained some color as he tried to calm his nerves. "Sure," He grumbled shrugging Duo's hand off his shoulder just as the to other gundam pilots came trodding out of their places with their uniforms on. "We'd better hurry," Heero began. "We musn't keep Une waiting."
Trowa gave a silent nod making his way over to the door followed by Wufei and Quatre. Soon afterwards they all made they're way toward the meeting room. Jin looked around the halls ways in awe, it reminded him of all of the hospital he found himself in on L6 after they brought him in from the cold depts of space, he gave Duo a quick look before turning his attention to the door they were approaching. This should prove to be interesting ... he thought with a smirk.
~*~
Noin sighed rocking back and forth in the spinning chair despite the fact that she knew she had to meet up with Zechs before someone managed to break inside the control and take her into their custody. Her nose scrunched up at the thought, she would have really jeopardized the mission then not that she would do anything about it if it were to happen.
Stretching her arms and legs out Noin rose from her seat cracking the kinks in her neck before making her way over to a vent large enough for her squeeze through and since the screws were loose enough she would have no problem pulling the cover right off the wall. Noin kneeled in front vent placing her hands on the side of the vent she slid her fingers underneath with ease before pressing her thumbs against the front of the vent and began to tug.
There was a moment of resistance from the cover before it came off unexpexingly sending Lucreiza crashing to the ground with a quiet groan of pain. Noin stared up at the ceiling for a moment blinking in surprise.
"Not quiet how I planned it, but it worked...," She grumbled lifting herself in an upright position with a grunt gazing into the dark unknown void of the ventilation system. With a sigh Noin placed the vent cover inside against the wall first crawling in after it managing to get her caboose through the square entrance.
I should lay off the pasta, Noin thought frowing at her bottom as she carefully turned herself around in the small space feeling like tuna in a compact can. Once she was facing the outside of the vent she grabbed the cover placing it against the wall (on the inside) before pulling out a small torch once she knew it was firmly against the wall.
Noin leaned back a bit as she whitched the torch on and began to weld the cover to the wall while hoping no one had heard all the commotion. Once she was done she continued through the unventured ventilation system in a backward motion hoping she'd find an open space within the cramped corridor with more pathways so she could turn herself around.
Noin began to feel a cod draft wash over her realizing she was near a air conditioner or at least a fan with a cold mode or something build into it. Ignoring the chilly breeze Lucreiza contiued on through the seemingly endless tunnel of the ventilation system before catching a glimpse of a small light ahead of her, with a sigh of relief Noin picked her pace as fast as she could since it wasn't easy to crawl on her knees in such a enclosed erea; she was surprised she hadn't developed Claustrophobia.
Noin continued on as the light became brighter and bigger with every inch she took on her knees until she came up to another vent and a tightly srcewed one at that much to her disappointment. Noin pressed her cheek against the screen scanning the area, she knew where she was; inside (or rather outside) the second controll room where Zechs was suspposed to be but he was nowhere to be found there wasn't any sign of his feet on the ground when she saw someone walk out of the corner, it was a man there wasn't a doubt in her mind about that.
He wore reasonably decent brown boots despite they weren't scotch proofed and he wore she exact same pants that she was wearing. It had to be Zechs! Taking the chance, Noin decided to see if her hunch was correct. "Zechs Merquies?" Noin whispered lowly. She watched the man's body language switch from cautious from surprised and alert, he began to near the vent where Noin's voice had originated from causing the dark-blue eyed woman shrank back as she watched the man kneel down before placing himself on his stomach and peer into the vent his platinum blonde hair flowed over his shoulders.
"Is that you Noin?" Came the curious reply. Noin sighed trying to lower her heart rate before answering. "It's me Zechs, did you shut down the communications from here?" She asked all business. Zechs nodded glancing to the door listening to the departing footsteps that passed by. "I think something happened to Relena," Zechs grumbled placing his elbows on the ground before pushing a screwdriver from underneath his jacket's sleeve proceeding to undo the screws keeping the cover in its place.
Noin gave him a strange inquiring look, for some reason Zechs always knew when something was bothering Relana she figured it was some brotherly instinct he developed over the years of their separation and what little time he got to spend with her.
Something was always troubling Relena and Zechs knew it had to do with the boy with a five-lettered name; H-E-E-R-O or her job as the vice foreign minister. "Well, what makes you say that?" Noin asked as the first screw fell from it's place onto the floor.
Zechs stared down at her with his penetrating light blue eyes giving her the chills, the second screw fell. "My heart stared to hurt (sort of like it does when you get scared or when you have a crush on someone)," He explained placing the third and fourth screw on the ground before pulling the cover off the wall and placed against the wall.
Without his consent Noin grabbed him by the wrists pulling herself out of the ventilation system with Zechs' help of course. He didn't want to swat her hands away from him it would he ungentlemanly of him and his mother always taught him to be a gentleman in front of the women. He gripped her wrists as he tugged her into a standing position pulling her feet out of the hole with ease.
Noin rested her head against his chest with a sigh never wanting to go through a vent again. Why do all the movie-stairs make it look easy? She thought irritably before she felt Zechs rest his chin on her head. "Your still worried about Relena?" Noin asked staring up at him. Noin felt him nod.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine. She is your sister after all," She said jokingly. Zechs smirked before pulling Noin out of his embace. "Let's complete this mission and destroy the mobile factory...... after we take care of the rebels that is," He said sternly.
Noin saluted him with a nod. "Roger!"
~*~
Hilde awaoke with a splitting headache that felt more like migraine. She scanned her surrounding area she knew to be a holding cell which hadn't be quiet found of when she was arrested and suspended indifenantly after helping Duo into the lunar base. Her head continued to throbb with pain she tired to climb to her feet, she was halfway into a standing position when she fell back to the ground as if she had not a single bone in her legs nor body.
Hilde did not bother getting back up; she knew it would be impossible since the drug was still in her system. Hilde began to wish that she stayed home and waited for Duo instead surrending herself to Relena's pleads of going out. What if he were home right now worried sick about her due to her absence....? What if Heero had shot to silence his rambling on about his worry for his closest from next to Heero and the other gundam pilots?
What if Heero died to a heart-attack knowing Relena was kidnapped and out of his rescuing reach? Hilde sweatdropped at the thought of Heero dying.... it was simply impossible.... Heero was immortal! Baka stop thinking such silly things! Her mind scolded.
Hilde began to drousy again and was read to surrender herself to unconsciousness when the sound of the rusty cell door opening rang in her ears as did approachinig footsteps. Before she knew it Hilde felt herself being yanked up into a standing position makiing her head hurt even worse, she was dragged through a series of dingy dark corridors before being dragged into a room like resmbled a beautiful princesses chambers.
A room equip with flowling velet curtains, a huge bed with a canopy, studded pearls emrobing the sides of the peach-ish colored walls, pine hardwood flooring, a dinning table at the end of the room on the right, a desk in the middle of the floor accompanied by a desk, a chandelier hanging above, and a vanity on the left at the end of the room.
This was turly a place of royality... or so Hilde thought she figured it had to the strong hold of whomever orchestrated her and Relena's kidnapping. The man threw Hilde to the ground causing her to slide across the smooth floor stopping in front of the desk. She kept her head bowed her eyes set firmly on her bound hands noticing her ankles were also bound together when the squeak of the cushioned spinning chair turning around and a soft giggle caught her attention but she did not look up. "There's no need to bow to me just yet Hilde Schbeiker," Came a soft dry voice. Hilde's head snapped upward gazing into a face she knew all to well.
"Dorothy? Dorothy Catalonia?!" Hilde cried in surprise. The woman giggled like a school girl before flinging her shoulder length short blonde hair over her shoulder before shaking her head. Her eyes were a paler blue than Dorothy's, her hair was the exact same blonde, her eyebrows however were not like Dorothy's; they were short and arched to give her a menacing look.
Her skin was a light peach color, her hands were smooth untouched her finger nails were perfectly manicured, her lips curled the same way as Dorothy's but her aura was cold and heartless. "Please allow me to introduce myself; I am Phareil Dermail Catalonia, I am the sister of Dorothy Catalonia," The woman purred placing a finger on her cheek. "Take her to Relena's chambers Stanly.... please?" The man behind Hilde nodded coming up to her in a matter of seconds before bringing the end of his gun down on her head again knocking her Unconscious once again.
(Author's note: The plot thickens! [clears throat]; Jin [despite the name] is an original character; in other words he's mine ^_^. I noticed everybody is writing a GW/Escaflowne crossover now.... copycats [good thing I came out with it first]! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry I took so long. 2hours and 30minutes isn't exactly all the time I need to write an entire chapter. impossible really to be honest. Ja ne! Sakura123~)